Saturday, August 16, 2014

I cannot possibly care less about Ferguson

I would not have heard about Ferguson if it were not for the 24/24 CNN coverage after the 24/24 coverage of the Malaysia plane shot down. CNN needs such stuff to free itself regularly from coverage that ensnares it and makes it sound ridiculous.
But it really does matter what CNN does, outside the US people do not give a shit about Ferguson. Well, maybe not; they cover it among the news, news that CNN seems only to eager to avoid so as to dedicate to navel gazing in Missouri.

This year we commemorate the start of WWI in 1914. D day in 1944 (twice in France as we just commemorated the landing in Provence, acknowledging all the help we got from Africans). Plus a few less momentous ---4.

We celebrate that Rosetta has met with a comet after years of planning. We are getting ready to meet with Pluto soon.

We are worried by Ebola. We are devastated by ISIS. We are clueless about Gaza.

And you are asking me to worry about a bunch of chavistas, from both sides, in Ferguson? Gimme a break! Send them all, the blacks, the liberals, the cops, the governor, the whatever to Kurdistan.

29 comments:

Finding any news channel in the USA these days that is worth its salt is near impossible. Al Jazirah comes closest. yet, even they have to bend a bit to the political realities holding sway in Washington (i.e the lobbyists). CNN has fallen a long long way since the heady days that Bernard Shaw used to cover the news. Now it is just another channel doing REALITY TV.... ala Ferguson ....The network news has just become a variety show .If you really want news choices are slim to none outside of the internet.

As a regular reader of this blog I can understand why you feel that way, Daniel. But Ferguson does matter. It is true that the US has too often fallen far short of upholding the enlightened principles which have animated our history. Few other countries have failed so spectacularly and with such grim regularity than has the US, in living out our creed. It is an embarrassment to see American politicians and opportunists lecture the world on liberal ideals, while we have so obviously lost our way at home. But the issue here is much larger than the death of an unarmed teenager and a racist police force. If this event can become an opportunity for us to refocus on our basic beliefs, in Due Process, Equality under the Law, accountability and the capacity to change, our open process of fixing our failings can be a positive example of what is possible, even in a society as broken as ours. It is important because, if we act with responsibly, it will be seen by others and perhaps give hope for the future in places beyond our shores.

That is such utter propaganda....The illegal Mexicans are laughing in your face.I know because I speak with them everyday.

The fact that a person of color is treated unfairly by a policeman does not mean that whites are not, and it doesn't mean that people are oppressed either.It means that the police who commit these acts must be taken off the force.Nothing will every be perfect .

Hope for the people beyond these shores...Don't be naive.Hope must be apart of their culture.We cannot change others.

"But the issue here is much larger than the death of an unarmed teenager and a racist police force. If this event can become an opportunity for us to refocus on our basic beliefs, in Due Process, Equality under the Law, accountability and the capacity to change, our open process of fixing our failings can be a positive example of what is possible, even in a society as broken as ours."

It is interesting to read a post in which a policeman has been judged guilty and the police force labeled racist before much of the evidence is even known and then read about how we need due process. In my world, due process means we don't prejudge situations until all the facts are known, but apparently on the left it means something else entirely.

If you want to see the cause of our "broken society" might I suggest you look into a mirror?

If you think you can make the case that the Ferguson Police Department isn't racist, go ahead. We'd all love to hear it. Just so we understand each other...it was the policeman who did the shooting, right? The bullets from his gun ended up in Michael Brown's body, right? Lots of us saw the video of the uniformed Ferguson officer referring to the outraged citizens of Ferguson as "fucking animals". So, go ahead, make the case they aren't a racist police force. We're listening.

Rich, since you are the one who made the claim that the Ferguson Police department is racist the burden of proof lies with you to show that the police are racists and that their racism contributed to the shooting of Mr. Brown. It's the old innocent until proven guilty thingy.

That's because Ferguson is now a major event in United States history. The killing of the young man did set it off, but this tension had been simmering ever since the killing of the unarmed Trayvon Martin, and the acquittal of George Zimmerman, for that murder. In the interim between these two events, police have killed many unarmed Blacks. Finally, the police display of heavy weapons, militarized vehicles, snipers and machine gunners pointing their possibly loaded weapons at the non-violent crowds, was just too much. Whereas the display of military hardware and rifles pointed at the people maybe normal in SA, it is abnormal for the US. It is an event that cannot become acceptable here.

Of course, this is not anywhere near the tragedy presently facing the people of Venezuela. But, in my opinion, there is more that can be attributed to this chaotic event then what appears on the surface. That is, that there is a strong movement in the United States, that mirrors much of what the Chavistas are doing in Venezuela. These groups, by disseminating false and harmful lies, as facts, are creating hatred against the US government. Even when they're proven wrong, they could care less, since their propaganda is used to feed to their base, ammunition, to be used to recruit other gullible ignorants. They also contrive fraudulent and incendiary issues to halt the government from accomplishing necessary works, for the public good. They target the nations institutions, applying political roadblocks, halting them from achieving their missions.

Astonishingly, these far right US political groups, and the leftist Chavitas, are sort of political cousins. One of them may pretend to be on the far left, the other on the far right. But in reality, they use similar tactics, because they are after the same result. Both want to turn their countries into authoritarian, fake democracies. So in fact, it doesn’t matter whether they are right or left. And maybe, for those who care, this is something that must be stopped before it gets to the Venezuela Chavista stage.

I agree with you here to an extent, though I see it more of a leftist movement, and then the right reacts with their own garbage.

A lot of very naive people are taking the bait.Many of them are in my family and among my friends.Just recently one of my " Liberal" friends told me that she just recently took a Republican lady to the emergency room even though she hates her values.Can you imagine?And on top of it all she felt compassionate( lol) Actually doing a favor for someone who does not share her values?Her main value seems to be to hate on the US , the religious, and the Republicans....When I came back to the US after a lifetime in Venezuela I found this polarized and hateful environment, which is not too bad here in my small town in NC, but I get to see it on CNN and after a minute of utter disgust, I turn it off.It is so easy to fool most people when they identify with a group, and they cannot use their own individual discernment powers.This constitutes about 2/3 of the population...in some places more.

Lets be clear here. Zimmerman (a so called white Hispanic) was attacked by Trayvon Martin and shot Martin in self defense. He was tried and acquitted by a jury in a fair trial. Defending himself after he was attacked by a much younger and stronger man who apparently intended to kill him is not murder.

I'm not sure where you get your information. The left loves Chavez and the present Venezuelan regime. The right - not so much.

Zimmerman was 40lbs heavier, had self defense training, was stalking martin, was told by the police to stay in his car, was armed, and was not mentally stable, as his track record has shown since the murder. I get my information from Wikipedia.

It is no small wonder that this incident is a major source of embarrassment for most Americans. We civilized people would rather that these travesties stand out because they are so infrequent, than be ignored because they are so common.

On one hand we have cops who have killed many unarmed blacks. On the other we have political group creating hatred against the US government. In addition these are a mirror image of Chavistas who incidentally make up the government in Venezuela. Confusing? Indeed.

As a black man from the United States who follows your blog, I am surprised of your comments on ferguson. I lived, worked and played sports in your country. Thought it would be cool to keep up with news in Venezuela and hear half of the truth that is going in your country. I have spent alot of time in Venezuela (7 trips last year alone) in Turen, Acarigua, Cuidad Bolivar, Barquisimeto, Apure, San Cristobal, Tachira, and Barinas so I know the country somewhat but if there is a story going on I would research to find the truth first. In 2012 I was in Acarigua and got beat of $35,000usd from Portuguesa Government which threw my life back through a sports contract but I still don't put out bad news about your country and how corrupt it's people and governemnt can be. I know you don't support this regime, but the people of Venezuela are generally nice people and fun to be around especially around holiday seasons. I read your blog, devilsexcrement, caracaschronicles and any other place I feel I get good news about Venezuela when I was there in 2012 Globovison was opposition now its government controlled. I follow Venezuela because the country should be ran correctly with all the wealth it has. Should be a paradise with all the ore, gold, oil..plus the beautiful arable land in places like Portuguese which could feed the whole of Venezuela (maybe). So I understand you could careless but you never who follows your blog also.

As Tony points below, this entry was more about CNN navel gazing than actually what happens in Ferguson.

I have tried to be careful in avoiding judgement, though when I state that there are chavistas in Ferguson from both sides I do condemn all abuses, from looting to the shooting by 6 bullets of someone that supposedly was holding his arms above his head.

Another way perhaps for you to see my point is that in a world with so many major problems, writing from a country suffering from excessive crime, privations and repression, I have a hard time to sympathize with the plight of Fergussonians. Not that I am callous but maybe Missouri needs to have real problems. Amen of where were Fergussonians when Venezuela was brutally repressed. OK, silly sentence but I leave it on purpose as a symbol on how education should be comprehensive, from the barrios of Portuguesa to the suburbs of Saint Louis.

Point taking, I will continue to follow your blog as you lay out facts about your country. I understand also it was an isolated situation in Ferguson and things happen. I wish CNN didn't blow it up, but the media is about money also. Keep up the good work.

CNN must be delighted at all the free publicity it's getting here. Unclear why it's the only US MSM getting a mention, though. Maybe other US cable news channels aren't available in Venezuela. But if you're talking about CNN International, keep in mind as you contemplate the enforced annexation of Venezuelan democracy by Havana quislings who call themselves Venezuelan patriots that it was Fidel Castro, many many years ago whilst on a blue water fishing jaunt in Cuban waters with Ted Turner, who suggested to Turner that he ought to expand his then-new CNN 24-hour all news US centric format into CNN International, from which CNN en Espanol later was spun off. Back to Ferguson: I'm white, married to a paisa, I have lived/worked in Venezuela since 1976. I have blue eyes, my hair has gone white over the decades and Mr. Magoo in a split second would make me for a Gringo from a mile away on a moonless night - but I'm absolutely certain that I'd feel and actually be 1,000pc safer in Ferguson any night of the week than anywhere in Venezuela under the sun (I stopped going out at night ten years ago in Venezuela.) I don't get the connection between Cubazuela and the good folks in Ferguson seeing parts of their community going up in flames. But you're right about folks in Ferguson, and everywhere else in the US and the rest of the world, not being particularly concerned, interested or even a little itty-bitty curious about the 24/7 tragedy of Venezuela. Why should they be interested? From the ground in Anywhere-ville, USA, it's not like Venezuela really matters in their daily lives.

I don't think Daniel is taking about due process, racism, police brutality, minority rights, the US, or any such thing. He is just saying that The CNN reporting of the Ferguson case is exaggerated in comparison with other world current events. Why does anyone watch CNN? To be informed of those other current events. Why CNN specifically? Well, why not?Tony

What happens in ones own country is what is our primary responsibility but I agree that for Daniel what happens in the US is secondary to more overall important world wide events.Which is why people should have many sources for news

Daniel is very interested in what happens in the US, as he has demonstrated in numerous posts over the years. This particular post is not about the US, or racial equality, or due process of the law, or police brutality, or any such thing. He is just wishing that CNN had a more balanced reporting policy. At least this is how I read it.

Media is a business generally owned by business men. In what modern day world does anyone look to private business to provide unbiased accurate information. It publishes what it believes will sell and or get a result the ownership wants. Personally I would watch CNN way before Fox News or any of Ted Turners channels as the later are way over the edge politically bias. But everyone needs to take the news with a grain of salt. With that said I lean heavy to the right as a Canadian but do not buy into any of the fear mongering the right puts out that claims that Obama is looking to try and make the USA like Venezuela or buy into that their political structure is weak enough to go that way. Biggest issue the USA has right now is that most all the politicians suck, same issue in most of the world including Canada. All self serving and Obama never wins a second term if the Republicans get the radicals out of politics as they scare most people.

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